Agile Project Management Using Scrum

Presented by:

Dave Hallett & Ruth Butlin Queens University, Information Technology Services

Background on Speakers


Dave Hallett


Ruth Butlin


   

15 years software development experience MBA, Info Technology Mgnt Agile Alliance Member CSM Manager, University Information Systems, ITS

  

10 years software development experience Agile Alliance Member CSM Manages all student systems activity, mainframe and ebusiness Senior Systems Specialist, University Information Systems, ITS

Background on ITServices

~100 FTE staff

Background on ITServices 5 Main Departments

University Information Systems Servers, Operations Support Services Campus Telecom & Networks Sales & Service

Background on UIS
3 DBA, application server admins 14 Internet app developers 7 Mainframe developers 1 Manager

Background on UIS

Student, HR, Finance, eBusiness, Portal, Contract programming

Objectives for Today

Objectives for Today

What are we trying to manage?

Projects and ongoing support at Queens

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Objectives for Today

Whats the problem?

Why traditional PM strategies didnt work for us.

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Objectives for Today

Why choose Agile?

Transparency, flexibility Short-term predictability Long term vision

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What are trying to manage?

UIS Activity And now some pan-ITS projects

UIS Activity

25 year old mainframe applications

Ongoing list of change requests Requirements for significant enhancements (i.e. differential fee increases)

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UIS Activity

eBusiness applications
20+ new applications in last 4 years

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UIS Activity

Portal development
Coordinating multiple campus interests

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UIS Activity

Contract programming
Setting expectations when billing for development services

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Whats the Problem?

Why Have Traditional Project Management Strategies Failed Us?

Overplanning
    

Project proposal Project plan Use cases Workflow diagrams MS Project



Gantt charts & WBS

 
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Risk Minimalization checklist Project status reports Project close report

Locked in

Clients sign off on a complete set of project requirements before development begins

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Locked in

Timetable is set after requirements gathered

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Locked in
Then Systems analysis & system design occurs

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Locked in

Change requires formal Change Request

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Locked in

Client now waits for delivery of the product they want

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Locked in

Not the necessarily the product your team is building

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The invisible team

Client and development team are disconnected

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The invisible team

Client explains requirements to Project Manager

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The invisible team

Project Manager explains requirements to developers

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The invisible team

Developer questions go back through Project Manager

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The invisible team

Project Manager asks question of client

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The invisible team

Client explains answer to Project Manager

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The invisible team

Project Manager explains answer to Developers

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The invisible team

Developers translate requirements into code

Meanwhile

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The disconnected team

Project Manager assigns tasks to developers with timetable

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The disconnected team

Developers work independently, asking occasional questions

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The disconnected team

Testing and integration planning happened independently (if it happened)

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Waste removal

Project plans that try to capture every feature in advance

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Waste removal

Fantasy Gantt charts that predict what we will be working on 173 days from now

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Waste removal

Non-synchronized teams & clients

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Why choose Agile?

Transparency, flexibility Short-term predictability Long term vision

Why choose Agile?

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Why choose Agile?

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.
- Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

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Agile with Scrum

When the process is too complicated for the defined approach, the empirical approach is the appropriate choice.
Process Dynamics, Modeling, and Control, Ogunnaikeand Ray, Oxford University Press, 1992

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Defined Process vs. Empirical

Defined Process Management Great for known activity

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Defined Process vs. Empirical Not great for unknown activity

$7 million budget $120 million final

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Agile Project Methodology

Empirical management & control process

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Agile Project Methodology

Inspect and adapt feedback loops

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Agile Project Methodology

Used to manage complex projects since 1990

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Agile Project Methodology

Delivers business functionality in short iterations

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Agile Project Methodology

Scalable to distributed, large, and long projects

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Agile Project Methodology

CMM Level/3 and ISO 9001 compliant

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Agile Project Methodology

Extremely simple but very hard

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Agile Project Methodology

Trade-off Less Predictable Outcomes vs. False Confidence

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Agile Project Methodology

Extreme Programming Evo Iterative Development Feature Driven Development Lean Development
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Agile Project Methodology

Scrum

Scrum
Scrum recognizes that
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Agile With Scrum

We are skilled problem solvers, experts at devising long-lasting solutions.

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Agile With Scrum

The problem in our profession is not process or technology it is people and dysfunctional interactions.

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Agile With Scrum

It can only be solved person by person Scrum provides the mechanism for making the people and process problems apparent so they can be solved.
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What is Scrum Methodology?

Business Vision Project Backlog Sprints/Iterations Daily Communication Frequent Demonstrations

What is Scrum


Scrum is a very simple process:

     

a management technique encompasses almost any good engineering technique a relatively small set of interrelated practices and rules, is not overly prescriptive, can be learned quickly and is able to produce productivity gains almost immediately.

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What is Scrum


Scrum focuses an organization on:

  

building successful products delivering useful features at regular intervals expecting requirements, architecture, and design changes

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Waterfall project management

Planning Analysis Design Coding Testing Performance User Acceptance Pilot Live Time

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Scrum Project Management

*Scrum refers to the Product Backlog and Product Owner ITS will refer to the Project Backlog and Project Owner to lessen the commercial tone of the methodology
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How do you do Scrum?

Understanding Roles

Create a Project Team 3 sets of Roles

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Understanding Roles

Project Owner Scrum Master

(Project Manager)

Scrum Team

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Understanding Roles

Project Owner
Owns the vision Owns the priorities

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Understanding Roles

Scrum Master
(Project Manager)

Protects the team from interference Ensures daily team communication Further defines next deliverables
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Understanding Roles

Scrum Team
Owns the sprint tasks Self assigns tasks Can add to sprint Demonstrates product

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Project kickoff

Start Project with a Full Day Kick Off Meeting

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Project kickoff

Day with Project Owner Project Vision & Deliverables Backlog

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Project kickoff

Day with Scrum Team to organize plan estimate

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Project kickoff

Output is Product Backlog List of deliverables High-level dependencies Effort estimate

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Project Backlog
Owner
Prioritizes backlog deliverables according to Business Value

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Sprint Backlog

Team
selects deliverables they can deliver in calendar month

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Sprint Backlog
Scrum Master
(Project Leader)

Communicates current sprint deliverables Chairs daily meeting Addresses obstacles Schedules demonstration Further defines deliverables for next sprint
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Daily Scrums
Daily 15 minute status meeting; Same place and time every day; Three questions;


  

What have you completed since last meeting? What will you complete before next meeting? What help do you need?

Any decisions to be made?

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Monthly Demonstration

The Team presents Production quality features to Owner Unfinished/Next items are discussed
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Scrum Process

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Why Chose Agile/Scrum Development?

Know where you are every day with Scrum - or Think you know where you are on your well-formed plan and discover that you are very wrong, very much later

Minimum Process, Maximum Value

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Agile/Scrum Benefits?
Promote rapid delivery of value to customers Provide timely and regular visibility of the solution to customers, product owners, and stakeholders Deliver increases in productivity, quality & ROI for software development organizations

Minimum Process, Maximum Value

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What project management paradigms are we breaking?

Agile vs. Plan-Driven Development

The Agile Paradigm Shift

Waterfall
Requirements Cost

Agile
Schedule

Constraints
Plan Driven Value /Vision Driven

Estimates
Cost Schedule Features
The Plan creates cost/schedule estimates The Vision creates feature estimates

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Scope vs. Schedules

Everyone remembers a schedule slip, but almost no one remembers a scope slip.

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How is it working at Queens UIS?

Scrumming at UIS


Student Information Systems maintenance requests

  

~100 open maintenance requests Monthly updates between UIS PM & Assoc. Registrar Reprioritize list monthly according to most important and feasible.

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Scrumming at UIS


Faculty of Education Continuing Ed Registration System

    

One year planning Two years development with twice a year releases Switched to billable Monthly Sprints in Jan 2006 Prioritize deliverables every month Release to production monthly Finally, Im getting the system I want ConEd Dir

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Scrumming at UIS


Awards Office Application for Financial Aid

    

Given limited time window to build enhancements Assoc Registrar prioritized first Student then Admin priorities Time dictated deliverables. At the end of each of three Sprints, functioning code was put into production. Client happy with delivered products (not so happy with time allotted.)

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Scrumming at UIS


Library Portal Channels 6 channels identified for September release

   

Initial meeting with several librarians & UIS devs Approximate effort assigned to each channel Asked library to focus on one at a time First channel will be ready this month

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Scrumming at ITServices


JES Implementation implement new mail, calendar, portal, SSO

  

September goal Three ITS units (Servers, UIS, Support Services) Moved from managing >175 lines of Gantt chart to ~35 lines in Excel Difficulty getting norms

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Scrumming at ITServices

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Scrumming at ITServices

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Difficulties?

Difficulties?


Change is difficult
  

Clients initially reacted against frequent meetings Team members react against daily meetings Team members react against co-locating for work Daily meetings highlight impediments Some impediments are cultural Some impediments systemic

Identifying Impediments is threatening

  

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Pay Off?

Pay Off?
Improved Productivity Better Communication More Predictable Results Better Team Interaction Better Code More Frequent Deliverables Happier Clients

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Additional Sources

    

http://wiki.its.queensu.ca/display/UIS
http://www.agilemanifesto.org http://www.agilealliance.org http://www.scrumalliance.org http://pmdoi.com http://www.jimhighsmith.com Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber Agile & Iterative Development - A managers guide by Craig Larman Agile Project Management by Jim Highsmith Servant Leadership by Robert K Greenleaf Extreme Programming by Kent Beck Lean Software Development by Mary and Tom Poppendieck

     

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Thank You!
Questions?
dave.hallett@queensu.ca ruth.butlin@queensu.ca